English abstract
In response to the increasing demand for clean water and energy due to the growing
global population and economic growth, it has led to an exponential search for
alternative renewable energy sources. The microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a promising
technology for energy production and wastewater treatment. It can recover bioelectric
energy from various types of wastewater. However, the cost and performance of the
anode material is closely related to the low power density and limited in its stability for
long-term application. Stainless steel mesh (SSM) is considered the preferred material
for microbial full cell (MFC) anode due to its excellent mechanical strength and low
cost, but its low biocompatibility and low corrosion resistance have limited its
application as an anode material. The composite material is very promising to improve
the configuration of the anode to enhance the performance of the MFC. In this study,
the reduced graphene oxide / polyaniline (rGO/PANI) composite is used to modify the
stainless-steel mesh. Due to its excellent mechanical and electrochemical properties
because of the strong 𝝿- bonded surface of the reduced graphene oxide and the 𝝿- 𝝿 in
interaction in the conjugated PANI. The composite material is prepared layer by layer.
First reduced graphene oxide is synthesized on the stainless-steel mesh surface by
electrodeposition method. It resulted not only the formation of a GO layer but also the
conversion of GO to a reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The polyaniline (PANI) was then
formed on the rGO surface via cyclic voltammetry electrodeposition like that of
graphene oxide. The present study is being conducted to investigate the structural
characteristics and electrochemical behaviour of the synthesised reduced graphene
oxide/polyaniline composite (rGO / PANI). The composite is prepared at different
graphene oxide mass concentrations to enhance electrochemical efficiency. The
scanning electron microscopy (SEM) Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray
diffraction (XRD) showed that the PANI nanofibers coated well on the surface of GO
and interposed into its layer. The electrochemical performance of the modified SSM
with rGO / PANI composite is analyzed by cyclic voltammetry (CV). The result was
that the rGO / PANI composite where the graphene concentration is 1.0 mg / mL
vi
displayed a higher current density (20.80 mA / cm2
) and an areal capacity of 42.9 (mF
/ cm2
) compared to the composites with lower concentration of graphene oxide. Also,
the composite produced good electrochemical performance compared to the SSM
fabricated with pure PANI and GO. These results are attributed to the large number of
active sites provided by a large surface area in graphene oxide for polyaniline
deposition and good synergic effect of GO and PANI. Therefore, these results highlight
the possibility of reduced graphene oxide / polyaniline composite as a cheap anode
material and good electrochemical performance that could have commercial
applications for the MFC system anode .
